I am putting my mother to work on Mother’s Day. I plan to bring her into the kitchen and let her try to cook or at least guide me in the kitchen.

I haven’t quite figured out what we are going to cook yet. My mother was a home economics teacher for over 30 years and she has thousands of recipes. I think those are her most prized possessions. Some of her favorite recipes, she didn’t have written down. She just made it from memory.

I remember people would call and say, “Mrs. Ford, I need you to make me a pound cake. I will pay you $10.” Still today, people will stop and ask me about my mother’s pound cake.

I am not a fan of pound cake. This is most likely because my mom always had pound cake around. Now I miss it. There are a lot of my mom’s cooking I miss. I don’t like chicken and dressing because I can’t find any that tastes like my mom’s.

When my mom’s health started to fail, I didn’t think about preserving her recipes. You would think I would know all of her recipes because I grew up around them. Sadly I don’t.

She did teach me one recipe. I still remember my mom guiding me on making her famous monkey bread. I remember it was dusk when I started and I didn’t finish the homemade bread until after 10 p.m. I had no clue you had to let the dough rise twice. I honestly don’t think I knew you had to let bread rise at all. I learned that night. I was exhausted after it was over and satisfied. I was so proud of my first batch of monkey bread. My mom was proud of me also.

I hope my mom can still guide me this Mother’s day. I know the day is supposed to be all about her but as she gets older, I cherish everything she gives me. Even if it is just a little laugh.

I don’t like saying, “I wish I could have done this or changed that.” I know there is no point. However, I wish I would have learned more from my mother. I wish I could turn back the hands of time and learn my mother’s pound cake recipe.

If you are still blessed to have your mother this Mother’s Day, be a little selfish. Ask your mom to write down your favorite recipe for you. I bet you will cherish it. Your mom will also be touched.